Read Part 1 of this article.

Relena Peacecraft’s pacifist stance rubs some Mobile Suit Gundam Wing viewers the wrong way. © 1995 — 2000 Sotsu Agency · Sunrise. All rights reserved.

Pacifism
Films about pacifists are extremely rare. Modern cultures still see people who oppose fighting as a way to resolve differences as weak, cowardly and in other negative ways. Searching the Internet for information about the violent Gundam TV series the following comments from fans of the show were found. “The only character I never liked is Relena Peacecraft… I thought her views were of a naive child… I could never agree with the belief of any pacifist.” Another person wrote, “I HATE Relena. She and her stupid pacifist stuff kept getting in the way!”

The most important work expressing a non-violent approach to life is Disney’s Ferdinand the Bull (Oscar winner, 1938). It was based on Munro Leaf’s popular children’s book of the same name. The book, illustrated by Robert Lawson, was published in 1936 and it is still in print. Amazon.com refers to it as “one of the best selling children’s books of all times,” and they rank it as #1,372 in sales.

The film stars a young bull who enjoys sitting under a cork tree and sniffing flowers instead of playing rough games with the other young bulls. One day five men from Madrid come to the ranch seeking the fiercest bull in all of Spain to fight in the arena. Just at that moment Ferdinand sits on a bumblebee and in his pain he outdoes the other bulls in expressing ferociousness. So he is taken to Madrid to fight. Everybody is afraid of him. The gate to his pen is opened and out he comes. Does he rush around, snorting and expressing anger? No, he goes to the center of the ring, sits and smells the flowers that the ladies in the stands are wearing. “So they had to take Ferdinand home. And for all I know he is sitting there still, under his favorite cork tree smelling the flowers just quietly.”

Considering the difficulties conscientious objectors had during World War I and the state that the world was in 1938, it may seem a courageous move on Disney’s part to turn the book into a cartoon. Wasn’t Ferdinand a brilliant statement supporting pacifism? Considering the studio’s output of impressive World War II propaganda films there is good reason to ponder why this film was made.

Munro Leaf’s controversial book with its non-violent message was the basis for Disney’s Oscar winner Ferdinand the Bull.

The answer may simply be that Disney saw it as a popular illustrated book that would make an excellent and hopefully profitable film. It is also possible that he and other Hollywood studio heads were against the coming war as the hostilities had already cut off some of the profitable overseas markets for US films. A film supporting the pacifistic point of view would help support American isolationism. Prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor he may have opposed the war for religious, moral and/or economic reasons. Also, Disney had been an ambulance driver in Europe just after WWI ended so he may have been sympathetic to men he worked with who wished to serve, but who refused to carry arms.

Supporting speculation that Disney may have opposed the coming war in 1940 is an Internet news item that, “Winston Churchill secretly asked Walt Disney to make an anti-Nazi cartoon based on the legend of St. George and the Dragon.” Documents from 1940 and discovered by The Telegraph in 2000, state, “Noel Coward and officials from the Ministry of Information went to America to try to persuade Disney to help with Britain’s propaganda campaign. Their requests, however, were ignored by Disney who was determined to keep America out of the war and was anxious to protect the international market for his films.” (The Telegraph, London, June 11, 2000) If the story is true, Disney may have been an isolationist at that point in time, but there may be another explanation as to why the project didn’t go forward. It is quite possible that the British simply couldn’t afford to pay Disney what it would cost to do the project.

I asked Howard Green (vp of Walt Disney communications), a friend who has written a great deal about Walt and has worked for Disney for many years, about the above. He wrote back, “Interesting article on Pacifism. I’m not sure that Walt was trying to make a statement about the war. I think he was just adapting a popular book. You might say that The Reluctant Dragon takes a pacifistic view as well. That dragon clearly is not interested in fighting. Not sure what to make of it all, but it is a good subject for speculation.”